newsHIT Interview: Daniel Espinoza Sleepwalks onto Lakai

It seemed like lil' Daniel Espinoza rolled out of nowhere—from Fontana, California—to end up on Lakai. But, the kid skates like a champ and he's hilarious, so it makes sense. It's a little old, but I caught up with him just a few days after he got on, as he was waking up from a night of celebrating. Read on to learn more…

What's up man?
Aggggggghhhh!

You all right?
Yeaaaah! I just woke up at 5 a.m. this morning and I was walking to my car by myself, because I had cottonmouth. It was weird.
You were just sleepwalking this morning or what?
Yeah, until I realized I was a block away. I was just sitting in my car, smoking a cigarette with the window down…
…At 5 in the morning?
Yeah.
Where do you live?
Um…Fontana.

So you still live out there?
Yeah.

Well, it sounds like it's been a good week. I mean you got a spot with a pretty prestigious crew. So, how does it feel to be on the Lakai team?
Ahhh…amazing? [Laughs] I don't know. SICK!

Seems like it would be pretty awesome to be on a team with guys like Carroll, Guy, Rick Howard, Biebel, Cairo, Welsh, Mike Mo, MJ and everyone else. Lots of legends on the team.
Yeah, I can't believe it. I'm stoked.

So, did any of those dudes have an influence on your skating at all?
Uh…um…

A lot of questions this early when you're feeling hungover, huh?
Yeah, I have answers. It's just taking me to think about it. MJ, Guy, Koston before he left—I've always loved how those guys skated. Ah…um…ahhh don't know.
[Laughs] Besides having the largest library in San Bernardino County, being home to the steel mill where they shot Terminator 2, the vacation destination for Al Capone and the birthplace of the Hell's Angels, what do you enjoy most being from Fontana?
I didn't know about the Hell's Angels, but the Al Capone house is a block away from my house. Otherwise, nothing at all [laughs].
What's a normal day in Fontana like for you? It sounds pretty weird, since you woke up at 5 a.m. this morning with cottonmouth and sleepwalked to your car to smoke a cig.
I usually just wake up, checking MySpace and AIM and then driving to L.A. I didn't wake up in Fontana with cottonmouth, though. I stayed in L.A. last night.

You make living in Fontana more bearable by making the trek to LA everyday, then?
Pretty much. If I'm skating, I'm almost always going to L.A.

Now that you're on Lakai, are you filming any videos, in particular?
No…no one tells me anything. I'm just kind of going with it.

Just skating and filming until something comes together.
Pretty much.

[Laughs] What's the worst thing about waking up in the morning hungover with cottonmouth?
Aggggh…me, Sam [Smyth] and Oliver [Barton] drank last night, so I was still drunk in the morning, walking to get a cig in the car. I think I broke Feds' [Lakai TM] doorknob.
I guess he's gonna have to get used to shit like that, since he's your TM now.
I guess so, but I hope not.